U-Roy, influential reggae artist, dies at 78
A.D. Amorosi, provided by
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An influential singer of gently melodic reggae, his conversational rapping was also known as “toasting.”
“As we mourn the loss, we have the memories of this amazing talent,” wrote producer, studio operator and U-Roy collaborator Mad Professor on Facebook. “We have the stories. Without him there would be no Dancehall, no Hiphop, no Rap, no Afrobeat.”
The Professor wasn’t just boasting.
As a traveling sound system DJ in the 1960s and ’70s, alongside the legendary likes of King Tubby (for whom he rapped, famously), and Coxsone Dodd, U-Roy lent his often lovely and mellifluous conversational chatter rapping with a flow and an intuitive feel for the rhythms to sparsely arranged reggae, dancehall and dub tracks in a live setting. Not only did this make him one of dancehall’s toasting innovators, U-Roy crafted some of the earliest forms of rap, for which he won sobriquets